Namgyal Rinpoche was born Leslie George Dawson in 1931, October 11, and raised in Toronto, Canada by parents of Irish and Scottish descent and attended Jarvis Baptist Seminary, before going on to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA, where he studied philosophy and psychology and became active in Socialist politics.
He began intensive training and meditation practice under the guidance of U Thila Wunta and Mahasi Sayadaw, then in Thailand with Chao Khun Phra Rajasiddhimuni at Wat Mahadhatu in Bangkok.
A year earlier he had met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Akong Tulku, Tibetan lamas at Oxford sent by the 16th Karmapa to study and live in the West.
Ananda Bodhi provided the lamas with assistance and saw to the transfer of ownership of Johnstone House to the Tibetan Karma Kagyu Order which transformed the old hunting lodge into Samye Ling, one of the first Buddhist centers in the West.
During a pilgrimage with students to India and Sikkim in 1968, Ananda Bodhi was recognized by the 16th Karmapa, the supreme head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, as an accomplished master and received Vajrayana robes [2].